Closing the Gap on Vaccine Hesitancy

The majority of the US population is on board with getting vaccinated, but there are still a few people in our society who are hesitant to get the jab. Currently, vaccine confidence has reached a plateau and,  unless about 10-15% of the population changes their minds, we won’t achieve the necessary 70 – 85% vaccinated requirements to create herd immunity. Fortunately, the solutions to this problem can be simpler than you think. 

Those who are vaccine confident versus those who are not can be broken down into various categories of people. First, social media users. Eighty-three percent of social media users have either been vaccinated or are willing to be vaccinated. Ninety-two percent of them believe the COVID vaccines are safe, and 86% believe COVID vaccines are effective. 

Other categories to look at are divided by political affiliations, race, and geography. In the political affiliation category, the most likely to be vaccinated are the mainstream left at 95%, and the least likely are the right at 65%, with apolitical and educated left falling between, but majority pro-vaccine. 

Geographically speaking, those in rural communities are 90% likely to be vaccinated, and those in urban communities are 93% likely. 

In the category of race, the most likely to be vaccinated are Asian-Americans at 94%, then Hispanic-Americans at 93%, Caucasian at 90%, and lastly, Black/African-Americans at 88%. 

The two main reasons why the right-wing population are vaccine-hesitant are freedom of choice, and concern about side effects. Concern about side effects also correlates with the willingness or unwillingness to vaccinate among the above-mentioned races. 

Via: realchemistry.com